Great fiction and nonfiction graphic novels to read and enjoy, for both people new to the genre, and graphic novel lovers looking for their next read.
Compiled by:
Emily B
GN Sandman Absolute v. 1
Series: Absolute Sandman
A hardcover collection of issues one through 20 of The Sandman comics, with new coloring on the first 18, following the fantastical doings of the Sandman and his siblings—each the embodiment of one of the dark forces of nature.
GN 741.5092 Kim Kim
The autobiography of a South Korean woman's student days under an authoritarian regime, and how she defied state censorship. This is a great primer for modern South Korean history that sheds a light on issues happening in the country—and around the world—today.
GN Panetta Bloom
Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band―if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it.
GN Fence v. 1
Nicholas, the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion, is a scrappy fencing wunderkind, and dreams of getting the chance and the training to actually compete. After getting accepted to the prodigious Kings Row private school, Nicholas is thrust into a cut-throat world, and finds himself facing not only his golden-boy half-brother, but the unbeatable and mysterious Seiji Katayama.
GN 741.5092 Stevenson Ste
In a collection of personal comics that span eight years of her young adult life, author-illustrator Noelle Stevenson charts the highs and lows of being a creative human in the world. This memoir will make you laugh and cry, and is great for people who love Stevenson's other works.
GN Golden Age v. 1
When the old king dies, his daughter, Tilda, prepares to take the throne and succeed him. With the support of the wise Tankred and the loyal Bertil, her closest counselors and friends, she intends to carry out the reforms needed to relieve her people of their misery. But a plot led by her younger brother suddenly condemns her to exile. Guided by strange visions, Tilda decides to take back her kingdom with the help of her two companions.
GN 800.92 Jacob Goo
Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacob's half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first, they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the media into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she's gotten her own answers: her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love.
GN Carroll Guest In The House
After many lonely years, Abby's just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it's strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband's first wife, the more things don't add up. And Abby starts to wonder...was Sheila's death really by natural causes?
GN Heartstopper v. 1
Charlie Spring is in year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore, and he's sort of got a boyfriend, even if he's kind of mean and only wants to meet up in secret. Nick Nelson is in year 11 and on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him. That is, until the start of January, in which Nick and Charlie are placed in the same form group and made to sit together.
GN Heathen v. 1
Aydis is a viking, a warrior, an outcast, and a self-proclaimed heathen. Aydis is friend to the talking horse Saga, rescuer of the immortal Valkyrie Brynhild, and battler of demons and fantastic monsters. Aydis is a woman. Born into a time of warfare, suffering, and subjugation of women, she's on a mission to end the oppressive reign of the god-king Odin.
GN Invisible Kingdom v. 1
In a small solar system in a far-flung galaxy, two women—one a young religious acolyte and the other a hard-bitten freighter pilotuncover a conspiracy between the leaders of the most dominant religion and an all-consuming mega-corporation. On the run from reprisals on both sides, this unlikely pair must decide where their loyalties lie—and risk plunging the world into anarchy if they reveal the truth.
GN 618.24 Kni
Her whole life, Lucy Knisley wanted to be a mother. But when it was finally the perfect time, conceiving turned out to be harder than anything she'd ever attempted. Fertility problems were followed by miscarriages, and her eventual successful pregnancy plagued by health issues, up to a dramatic, near-death experience during labor and delivery. This moving, hilarious, and surprisingly informative memoir not only follows Lucy's personal transition into motherhood, but also illustrates the history and science of reproductive health from all angles.
GN Lore Olympus v. 1
Persephone, young goddess of spring, is new to Olympus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she's allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods. When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld.
GN Monstress v. 1
Set in an alternate world of art deco beauty and steampunk horror, Monstress tells the epic story of Maika Halfwolf, a teenage survivor of a cataclysmic war between humans and their hated enemies, the Arcanics. In the face of oppression and terrible danger, Maika is both hunter and hunted, searching for answers about her mysterious past as those who seek to use her remain just one step behind.
GN Walker Mooncakes
Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.
GN Nimona v. 1
Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: Prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.
GN Walden On A Sunbeam
In two interwoven timelines, a ragtag crew travels to the deepest reaches of space, rebuilding beautiful, broken structures to piece the past together; and two girls meet in boarding school and fall deeply in love, only to learn the pain of loss.
Available from Hoopla
Tom Taylor's life was screwed from the beginning. His father created the mega-popular Tommy Taylor boy-wizard fantasy novels. But Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom that fans constantly compare him to his counterpart, turning him into a lame, Z-level celebrity. When a scandal hints that Tom might really be the boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a mysterious, deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life.
GN Adams Watership Down
A beautiful and faithful graphic novel adaptation of Richard Adams's beloved story of a group of rabbits on an epic journey in search of home. Watership Down is a classic tale of survival, hope, courage, and friendship that has delighted and inspired readers around the world for more than 50 years.
GN Dhaliwa Woman World
When a birth defect wipes out the planet's entire population of men, Woman World rises out of society's ashes. Full of hilarious vignettes about a world without men, this graphic novel challenges our notions about the various roles women play.